Chapter 153.1: “Storm” Roadshow
Ling Yuanzhen was standing beside the wall-mounted air conditioner near the classroom podium, randomly pressing the controls while talking.
Suddenly hearing Shen Xiu’s cold voice, Ling Yuanzhen was so startled he instinctively blurted out a curse, “F**k!”
The moment he realized that the person standing behind him was Shen Xiu, panic washed over him.
Because of the fear, his hand loosened, and the phone he was using mid-call slipped from his grip and fell to the ground with a loud thud.
As soon as Shen Xiu saw Ling Yuanzhen’s phone drop, he instinctively took a step back to avoid suspicion.
At the same time, he secretly scolded himself for impulsively stepping forward just now to explain things after overhearing his name being mentioned.
Please don’t let this backfire on me!
Shen Xiu stared nervously at Ling Yuanzhen’s back. He wanted to leave, but was afraid Ling Yuanzhen would call him out for trying to flee.
If that happened and drew more attention, he’d be in an even more awkward and hard-to-explain situation.
So Shen Xiu stood silently behind Ling Yuanzhen, not daring to make a sound for fear of being wrongly accused.
Ling Yuanzhen could feel the chill behind him—he didn’t even have to turn around to know that such an intense, icy aura could only mean Shen Xiu himself was standing there.
Ling Yuanzhen: “…”
Can someone tell him why Shen Xiu, who always liked cutting it close and entering the classroom just in time, would come early today?
And not just a little early—an entire five minutes early, damn it!
As if that weren’t enough, now Shen Xiu was standing silently behind him like some ghost, even after he’d scared him into dropping his phone!
It wasn’t a big deal—he’d only been bragging on the phone to his childhood friend, assuming Shen Xiu wouldn’t show up early, and hoping to seem different from the rest of the classmates in front of them.
He tried to act innocent—but got caught red-handed by Shen Xiu.
Why was he so damn unlucky?!
There were only a dozen or so students in the class; with such a commotion, it was impossible not to get noticed.
Now, the remaining students couldn’t help but cast curious, gossip-filled glances at Ling Yuanzhen, who was standing in front of the air conditioner near the door, and Shen Xiu, who was beside the doorway.
Under the pressure of Shen Xiu’s sharp gaze behind him, Ling Yuanzhen couldn’t stand his ground at all.
Wanting to end this torturous staring contest as soon as possible, he didn’t even bother to pick up his phone from the floor. He turned around to face Shen Xiu.
The moment he did, his eyes met Shen Xiu’s cold and piercing gaze. Instinctively, Ling Yuanzhen took a step back until he was leaning against the air conditioner.
Shen Xiu was tall, so Ling Yuanzhen deliberately avoided eye contact, but the overwhelming sense of pressure coming from Shen Xiu still made him swallow hard.
“W-why are you looking at me like that?” he stammered. “I was just telling the t-truth! There’s no way you c-could’ve finished the thesis already…”
After blurting that out in a stammer, Ling Yuanzhen finally let out a long breath, his face flushed red with embarrassment.
He was well aware the entire class was watching him, and who knew what kind of rumors would spread afterward.
Now that things were already out in the open, Ling Yuanzhen didn’t wait for Shen Xiu’s reply and spoke again.
“The thesis topic… right, they haven’t even given us the thesis topic yet! In our major, that usually comes in the second semester of senior year. It’s only the second semester of junior year now. You saying you’ve already finished it—it’s absolutely impossible!”
After listening to both of Ling Yuanzhen’s statements, Shen Xiu finally snapped out of his initial confusion—mainly about why Ling Yuanzhen ignored his phone that had just fallen to the ground, and instead prioritized arguing about the thesis.
Wasn’t a dropped phone more important than some boring debate about whether a thesis had been written or not? Didn’t he want to check if it was damaged?
Shen Xiu didn’t get it, but he respected Ling Yuanzhen’s focus. He responded calmly:
“Can’t you guess?”
So simple?!
Ling Yuanzhen: “Guess?”
How could a thesis topic be guessed?
He tried to shrug casually and respond with sarcasm, but the moment his eyes met Shen Xiu’s emotionless gaze, his words came out stammered—so much so that even he didn’t realize it at first.
Whenever he faced Shen Xiu, he just couldn’t hold a relaxed conversation. It always felt like Shen Xiu’s presence was weighing heavily on him, leaving him breathless.
“Shen Xiu, are y-you joking? How could anyone guess the topic?”
“What, did you suck up to someone and get the topic leaked in advance?”
Shen Xiu: “…”
After hearing that, Shen Xiu finally understood the root of Ling Yuanzhen’s disbelief.
He took a moment to organize his thoughts before calmly explaining:
“Haven’t you noticed that, for our Film and Media Studies major, the thesis topics over the years are pretty much variations of the same themes? Around 80% of them are just familiar keywords rearranged into different combinations.”
“I also asked several upperclassmen from our department—they said we can actually choose our own topic, as long as it’s within the scope of our major and academic focus, even if it’s not on the preset list.”
Ling Yuanzhen: “?”
Are you crazy?! How the hell is anyone supposed to notice that?
Seriously, what kind of normal student has nothing better to do than analyze boring patterns like that? Why not just wait until the second semester of senior year, pick a supervisor, and then choose the easiest topic from the list they give?
The classmates who had just been watching for the drama: “…”
They only wanted to enjoy some juicy gossip—how did this turn into a full-on academic takedown? Suddenly, the melon in their hands didn’t taste quite so sweet.
But—
This is exactly what makes Shen Xiu Shen Xiu.
No supervisor selected yet, no thesis topics announced—and Shen Xiu had already compiled an entire Excel sheet analyzing past topics, predicting the likely ones for their class.
Incredible. Truly incredible.
Instantly, the whole class looked at Shen Xiu with eyes full of admiration.
“You got that from…”
Before Ling Yuanzhen could finish his question, a gossipy classmate—already guessing what he was about to ask—cut in with exasperation.
“Ling Yuanzhen, how did you even get into Qinghe?”
“Seriously. Didn’t you hear what Shen Xiu just said? He consulted upperclassmen—of course they’d have access to previous years’ thesis topics!”
Ling Yuanzhen: “…”
He didn’t even need to see their faces to feel it—everyone was definitely looking at him like he was an idiot.
Shen Xiu, inwardly grateful to the classmates who had helped explain things on his behalf and spared him from having to speak too much, nodded in agreement. “Mm.”
Ling Yuanzhen: “…”
As if it wasn’t enough that his classmates had flayed him alive, Shen Xiu had to add a single “Mm” to finish the job?
Was he doing this on purpose?
After that one-syllable response, Shen Xiu noticed Ling Yuanzhen’s slightly reddened eyes glaring at him in disbelief and asked, puzzled, “You still have questions?”
The rest of the class: That was a full-on taunt, no doubt about it!
The Demon King Xiu is back online. Chatty Ling Yuanzhen totally deserved it.
Ling Yuanzhen was both furious and terrified inside.
“If it’s like you said, and you guessed multiple possible topics, how could you possibly have had the time to write them all?”
He hadn’t written a thesis before, but his neighbor’s older brother had already graduated from college. Over drinks once, he’d mentioned that the entire second semester of senior year was just for writing the thesis.
And even then, it had to be revised over and over. Only after struggling through countless edits would the advisor finally approve it. So what made Shen Xiu think he could finish it already?
Shen Xiu thought of the folder on his computer—filled with thesis drafts—and replied plainly:
“Things haven’t been that busy lately. After filming wrapped, I wrote a full thesis for each of the topics I guessed.”
Classmate reactions: “…”
What academic overachiever? This wasn’t just a top student—this was a full-blown academic demon.
If it weren’t for the last shreds of dignity and decency they still clung to—and the fact that Shen Xiu’s expression remained as cold and unapproachable as ever—they might have shamelessly asked if he could share one of those theses with them.
Ling Yuanzhen: “…”
Confirmed. Shen Xiu was 100% insane.
Shen Xiu’s gaze drifted to the phone still lying on the floor, untouched by its owner. He felt a flicker of sympathy for the poor thing.
Clang…
The long, drawn-out sound of the school bell rang, and the teacher’s voice followed: “You two—what are you doing standing there?”
At the sound of the teacher’s voice, Ling Yuanzhen panicked even more and quickly said,
“Nothing.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he crouched down to snatch up his phone, then strode quickly back to his desk.
Shen Xiu: “…”
So Ling Yuanzhen didn’t plan to blame him?
He had clearly underestimated him. Based on Ling Yuanzhen’s usual petty behavior, Shen Xiu had instinctively assumed he’d get aggressively accused of something.
Since it looked like Ling Yuanzhen wasn’t trying to pick a fight, Shen Xiu turned to the teacher, gave a polite nod of apology, and swiftly walked to his usual seat.
Back at his desk, Ling Yuanzhen finally began to recover from the psychological domination he’d just experienced—a full fifteen minutes into the lecture.
Once he’d caught his breath, he finally remembered to check on his phone.
And the moment he saw the shattered screen of his brand-new model, his face turned completely black.
…
Xida University.
During PE class.
“Just now… was that Shen Xiu?”
“What? What?! The legendary Shen Xiu?!”
“What did he say to your childhood friend just now? Why did your friend get so scared he hung up?”
Ling Yuanzhen’s childhood friend looked at the crowd of classmates who had gathered around him at the mere mention of “Shen Xiu” and couldn’t help but feel excited as he repeated what he’d just heard.
“I didn’t catch much either—just that my friend said Shen Xiu didn’t have time to write his thesis, and Shen Xiu replied that he’d already finished writing all of them.”
“That’s it?”
“Are you sure you heard it right?”
“Yeah, Shen Xiu’s in the same year as us, isn’t he? Second semester of junior year?”
Ling Yuanzhen’s childhood friend replied confidently, “I definitely didn’t hear it wrong!”
“Shen Xiu said he’s already finished his thesis?”
“No way!”
“That’s impossible—it has to be fake!”
“Ridiculous. Bragging without even trying to make it sound real. If I remember correctly, Shen Xiu is only in his second semester of junior year, and at our school, thesis topics usually don’t come out until the second semester of senior year. It should be the same at Qinghe University.”
The classmates surrounding them were all discussing it heatedly, unable to believe it, firmly convinced they must have misheard.
But not everyone agreed.
“Why would it be fake? Maybe if it were someone else, sure—but we’re talking about Shen Xiu.”
“Exactly. Haven’t you heard that phrase—‘If it’s Shen Xiu, then it’s fine’?”
“Heh. As someone who watched Unstoppable Youth from start to finish, I just want to say—Shen Xiu is the kind of person who can casually pull out Excel to analyze a song anytime, anywhere.”
“Yeah, college theses are basically all the same anyway. Topics within the same major just get recycled with slight variations. If you ask a few upperclassmen, you can pretty much guess what the topics will be. And come on, it’s Shen Xiu we’re talking about—he’s so smart and strategic. Him guessing the topic and writing it early? What’s so strange about that?”
“Guessing the topic is one thing. But actually sitting down to write it—and more than a year in advance? That’s something else entirely. I mean… my brother didn’t start writing his until right before the thesis defense.”
“So relatable. I really hope I don’t end up with procrastination syndrome when I’m a senior…”
